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Tag: Ramanuj Shastry

  • Infectious Advertising hires ex-filmmaker Siddharth Kumar as creative director

    Infectious Advertising hires ex-filmmaker Siddharth Kumar as creative director

    MUMBAI: Siddharth Kumar has returned to the ad world—this time with a few reels under his belt and a mission to shake up creative norms. Infectious Advertising has appointed him as its new creative director, adding a splash of film-school flair to its creative stable.

    The Mumbai-based agency announced the appointment on 23 April 2025. Kumar, who briefly swapped ad scripts for screenplays, wrote, directed, and produced four short films that continue to play the global festival circuit.

    But his roots run deep in the agency world. With over 15 years of experience across marquee firms like Ogilvy, McCann, Leo Burnett, VML, and Publicis, Kumar has helped craft campaigns for household names such as Coca-Cola, Unilever, Vodafone, SBI, Airtel, Nestlé, and Mastercard.

    “My goal is to help build a culture where storytelling thrives. I believe my role is to push the envelope, stir things up, and encourage new kinds of madness,” said Kumar.

    Infectious creative chairman & co-founder Ramanuj Shastry had high praise, “Sid has impressed me in the short time that I have known him. He is a solid writer and great human being. I wish him a great innings at Infectious.”

    creative chairman & co-founder Ramanuj Shastry; CCO Akshay Kapnadak

    CCO Akshay Kapnadak echoed the sentiment, “Siddharth is passionate about storytelling, curious about people, enthusiastic about the business and has a great work ethic. I’m looking forward to see what we all can build together.”

    With this move, Infectious seems keen to turn up the creative voltage, bringing together script sensibilities, ad world grit, and a fresh approach to narrative-led campaigns.

  • Infectious Advertising appoints Abrar Nakhuda as head of digital

    Infectious Advertising appoints Abrar Nakhuda as head of digital

    MUMBAI: Infectious Advertising is gearing up for a digital shake-up, appointing Abrar Nakhuda as head of digital to spearhead innovation and strategy in an ever-evolving landscape. With a track record of crafting impactful brand narratives and data-driven campaigns, Nakhuda is set to lead the agency’s approach to AI-powered marketing, influencer engagement, and content storytelling.

    Speaking on his new role, Nakhuda shared, “My focus will be on elevating our clients’ digital presence, integrating the latest digital trends, and ensuring synergy between brands and platforms. From AI-driven workflows to influencer marketing and content innovation, we aim to push creative boundaries and set new industry benchmarks.”

    Infectious Advertising co-founders and directors Nisha Singhania and Ramanuj Shastry said, “Abrar’s expertise and energy bring a fresh perspective to our digital division. His vision will help us strengthen our approach and create groundbreaking digital campaigns.”

    Bringing years of experience from Digit 9.0, Every Media Technologies, Culture Machine, and Viral Fission, Nakhuda has led successful digital initiatives for NBA, Star India, Pepsi, and Amazon, helping brands build strong online communities and content IPs that resonate with audiences. His expertise lies in merging data insights with creative storytelling, a formula that has delivered measurable impact across industries.
     

  • Boutique agency Infectious Advertising hires Akshay Kapnadak as chief creative officer

    Boutique agency Infectious Advertising hires Akshay Kapnadak as chief creative officer

    MUMBAI: It’s the coming together of two creative guys to build something bigger than the sum of both. Infectious Advertising  creative chairman & founder Ramanuj Shastry has roped in veteran Akshay Kapnadak as the boutique agency’s chief creative officer. In his new role, Akshay will work together with Ramanuj  to elevate the agency’s creative product to the next level.

    An alumnus of the JJ Institute of Applied Arts, Akshay has been building brands and winning awards for close to 27 years. He spent the first 16 years of his career at McCann Erickson Mumbai, starting as a trainee and rising to the rank of executive creative director. 

    During this time, Akshay built strong teams and developed campaigns for a diverse range of clients, including global brands like Coca-Cola and L’Oréal, and leading Indian brands like Parachute, Pears, Radio Mirchi, and NDTV.

    His work has earned both local and international accolades, including Gold at Cannes Lions and The One Show. He has served on juries at Cannes Lions, Clio Awards, AdFest Asia, and Goafest. After McCann, Akshay ventured into independent consulting, mentoring start-ups, and leading design and communication projects across South and Southeast Asia.

    Ramanuj and Infectious Advertising CEO & co-founder Nisha Singhani are infectiously excited to have Akshay on board, if you read on and hear what they have to say about Akshay’s joining the agency. 

    “I worked very closely with Akshay for nearly half a decade at McCann,” says Ramanuj. “He is a fab guy with a brilliant mind and boundless energy. It will be lovely to work together again. Can’t wait for him to join.”

    Adds Nisha: “We are thrilled that Akshay has chosen to join us. He is an exciting mind, a lovely person, and aligns perfectly with our values and our mission to deliver impactful ideas for our clients. I’m confident that he will lead us to new creative heights.”

    Akshay, on his part , is over the moon on being on-boarded at the agency. Says he: “Infectious has built a reputation for strategic solidity and authentic storytelling. I’m excited to join this passionate team and eager to contribute to Infectious’ vision to build brands with purpose, ingenuity, and integrity,”

    The 11 year old Infectious’ leitmotif is: creating work that solves problems facing brands and businesses. Among their clients figure National Geographic, ALD Automotive, Bayer Crop Sciences, UltraTech Cement, Inorbit Malls, IDFC, and TBZ – The Original, and many more.  It recently  launched its content arm-Epidemik Content, delivering content with best-in-class production that’s value for money, embracing AI and new-age storytelling.

    With Akshay being signed on the three are expecting an epidemic of creativity to hit Infectious

  • Infectious Advertising launches its content arm – Epidemik Content

    Infectious Advertising launches its content arm – Epidemik Content

    Mumbai: Infectious Advertising has launched its content arm – Epidemik Content – with veteran industry producer Shabbir Motiwala at the helm.  

    Epidemik Content is committed to delivering top-notch content with best-in-class production that’s value for money. It will embrace AI and new-age storytelling while collaborating with the best new talent to push the envelope and redefine industry standards.

    Epidemik Content head Shabbir Motiwala said: ‘My challenge is to make Epidemik Content the ‘talk of the town’ with best-in-class production and innovative storytelling. The red speech blurb in the logo will be a constant reminder to me and Team Epidemik of that objective. Of course, I am thrilled and honoured to be entrusted with this responsibility.’  

    Infectious Advertising co-founders Nisha Singhania and Ramanuj Shastry added, ‘With Epidemik Content, we now have skin in the content game. Our mission is ‘Virality’ – to create content that is both memorable and shareable. Epidemik Content will create bespoke solutions for the ever-evolving content needs of brands in the digital age.’

    Shabbir joined Infectious Advertising last year. Prior to this, he was an independent producer and won the Cannes Lions Grand Prix in 2022 for the Killer Pack campaign. He started his career in advertising as an assistant director at UTV in 1993. Later he was appointed as an agency producer at Ambience Advertising; he then became a director and made more than 50 commercials. Subsequently, Shabbir was appointed the head of production at BBH India, working with talented creatives from across the globe, including the great Sir John Hegarty to eventually settling into the role of an executive producer.

  • Infectious Advertising’s Ramanuj Shastry joins NY Festivals Grand Jury 2024

    Infectious Advertising’s Ramanuj Shastry joins NY Festivals Grand Jury 2024

    Mumbai: Globally celebrated international advertising competition New York Festivals announced the appointment of Infectious Advertising’s Ramanuj Shastry as one of the Grand Jury members for its 2024 Advertising Awards. The NYF awards are held across regional, national and continental boundaries and provide a complete representation of the best in communications.

    “Ramanuj Shastry brings over 25 years of creative leadership and industry expertise to the 2024 NYF Advertising Awards Grand Jury panel,” said Scott Rose, executive director of the NYF Advertising Awards. “His award-winning work has earned him a trophy shelf of accolades, and his experience crafting campaigns for prestigious global brands truly makes him an asset in honouring trophy-worthy work.”

    Infectious Advertising creative chairman Ramanuj Shastry added, “Chuffed to be picked as a juror for the 2024 edition of the prestigious New York Festivals of Advertising. I am excited to see tremendous ideas from around the world and discuss them with some of the finest minds in the business. Eagerly looking forward to this!”

    An alumnus (PRM-90-92) of IRMA (Institute of Rural Management, Anand), Ramanuj has more than 25 years of experience in advertising. He learnt his craft at Ogilvy and McCann and served as CCO at Publicis Ambience, Rediffusion Y&R and Saatchi & Saatchi (in that order) before launching his agency, Infectious Advertising with Nisha Singhania in 2013.

    He has won several Indian and international awards and served on the film jury at Cannes Lions 2010. Ramanuj has more than 200 ad films to his name and some of the landmark campaigns he has worked on are ‘Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola’, Saffola – ‘Kal Se’ and OLX – ‘Bech De’.  He was one of the Jury Members for New York Festivals 2021 as well!

    The official deadline to enter the 2024 New York Festivals Advertising Awards is April 5 with a final closing deadline of April 26, 2024.

    All entries into the 2024 NYF Advertising Awards competition will be judged by 400+
    members of NYF’s Executive Jury and Grand Jury, a panel of prominent global creative minds, who collectively cast over 400,000+ votes to select the World’s Best Advertising.

    The New York Festivals Advertising Awards competition receives entries from more than 60 countries. It is judged by more than 400 NYF’s Executive and Grand Jury members, who collectively cast their votes to select the year’s trophy-winning work.

  • Infectious Advertising unveils ‘Tutti Frutti ki Baarish’ campaign for Anmol FruitBix

    Infectious Advertising unveils ‘Tutti Frutti ki Baarish’ campaign for Anmol FruitBix

    Mumbai: Infectious Advertising has created and conceptualised the latest campaign for Anmol FruitBix, ‘Tutti Frutti ki Baarish’.

    Anmol Industries, one of India’s leading biscuits and confectionery brands, has recently launched a truly innovative biscuit – Anmol FruitBix. A unique, one-of-its-kind biscuit, Anmol FruitBix has ‘tutti-frutti’ embedded in it – the same Tutti-Frutti you can find in sponge cakes. India has a long love affair with tutti-frutti and the company wishes to capitalize on this popularity.

    Infectious Advertising created the launch campaign for FruitBix,  highlighting the product innovation of tutti-frutti. ‘Tutti-Frutti ki Baarish’ captures the joyous mood one feels when one eats the biscuit.

    Creative chairman Ramanuj Shastry and ECD Ashish Naik, speaking about the ad said, “We used the ‘rain of tutti-frutti’ as a metaphor of abundance to create a magical world. We all know how much kids love tutti-frutti and were looking for the most magical and appealing idea when we hit upon the ‘rain’ idea. We had to travel all the way to Jaipur just to get clear skies and to shoot outdoors. It took incredible amounts of post-production to get the right effect, but the final film turned out just fab. Kudos to Vinod P. Vijay, the director, and his team for a great film. Hope it works like gangbusters for the Client.”

    Anmol Industries Ltd executive director marketing & innovation Aman Choudhary said, ‘The one big draw in the confectionary business is novelty and that is something that we worked really hard on with our internal R&D team. The task from the agency was to exaggerate this feat, which is a first in the category, especially when it comes to biscuits. The intent is to make our audiences fall in love with a familiar taste, all over again.”

  • Infectious Advertising bags global digital mandate for MyGenie

    Infectious Advertising bags global digital mandate for MyGenie

    MUMBAI: Infectious Advertising has bagged the digital advertising mandate for MyGenie, a newly launched product from ITPeopleNetwork LLC, based in Illinois, Chicago.
    MyGenie is an online marketplace for employers and workforces. Currently, the platform caters to the Information Technology sector in the US by providing opportunities to both employers and workforce to fulfill project requirements (skilled experts, tools, and accelerators) to successfully deliver business results.

    Infectious will manage social media presence, paid media creative and digital collaterals and activations for MyGenie.

    ‘‘MyGenie is a fantastic platform that gives both employers and employees flexibility as well as access. It’s our honour to be chosen by them as their creative partner and we look forward to building the brand together,” Infectious director & co-founder Nisha Singhania said.

    “MyGenie’, the workplace of the future, will be the ‘New Normal’ – an evolutionary idea about the disruptive marketplace whose time has come. Super chuffed to have been chosen to partner this game-changing business,” Infectious director & co-founder Ramanuj Shastry said. 

    “MyGenie (www.mygenienetwork.com) is an ingenious, innovative, and state-of-the-art employer-workforce engagement marketplace. It re-defines how "Opportunities" are designed and offered, “Breakdowns” prevalent dysfunctional models, and re-imagines "Workplace" of the future. We chose Infectious as our partner for our dream project because of their broad range of expertise, creative abilities, and customer service. MyGenie’s ambitions growth trajectory will depend on two crucial factors, first, the direction in which we are heading (innovative idea), and second, the momentum at which the joint team is propelling it (thrust). I believe we are on our way to achieving stratospheric growth for MyGenie.,” ITPeopleNetwork  CEO Amit Dutta said.